FOR THE FIRST time in a long time there is a political issue on which nearly everyone agrees: The school district's proposed budget could be better.

Board of School Committee members have been vocal about the need for more money to prevent an estimated 161 district-wide layoffs. Superintendent Thomas Brennan told the board last week he didn't think the budget would adequately fund education in the city, and Board of Mayor and Aldermen members say they want schools to get more than the $150 million proposed in Mayor Ted Gatsas' budget.

Where that money would come from is the big question.

Of those aldermen interviewed last week, all but one counted out the possibility of getting the 10-aldermen majority needed to override the city tax cap.

“Some of us will be working to allocate more funding to the schools within the tax cap figure. If you have a mayor making a pledge (to fight an override) in his budget address, politically it makes it very, very difficult to build a coalition of a supermajority of aldermen,” said Alderman Garth Corriveau.

Aldermen Barbara Shaw, Phil Greazzo, Ed Osborne and Joe Kelly Levasseur said they were either strongly opposed to spending above the tax cap or were likely to vote against an override.

That leaves taking money from the city budget to fund schools, which most aldermen interviewed said they were open to.

But Shaw said that before the board discusses giving money to the schools, there needs to be a sign unions are willing to negotiate. She and Alderman Joyce Craig are also looking for a deal that would prevent layoffs not only this year, but also in the next few years.

“If there were concessions, then there would be a higher likelihood of that, and I think there may be some room within the budget where we can allocate more money to the school district,” said Craig. “Whatever we do this year, we need to think long term.”

If the school unions all agree to Gatsas' proposed benefits package, it could save the district $5 million.

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THE PUBLIC HEARING on Gatsas' budget will be held Monday at 7 p.m. in the aldermanic chambers at City Hall.

Gatsas is proposing the city's first budget under the voter-approved tax cap. It includes six layoffs in the highway department, additional police officers, bonded money for roads and sidewalk repair and an estimated 31 cent increase in the property tax rate. The increase means about $60 more in property taxes for a $200,000 home.

Gatsas' budget also flat-funds the Manchester School District and has been poorly received by school supporters. The school board budget hearing last week was well attended by school unions, and not one person spoke in favor of the cuts.

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THE CURRICULUM and Instruction Committee focused last week on the overachievers in the district, first tackling tough homework assignments and then questioning the need for class rankings.

Committee Chairwoman Sarah Ambrogi asked students' class rank be removed from quarterly report cards until senior year to squash some of the hyper-competitiveness among the high schools' elite students. Beginning freshman year, a student's rank is printed on each report card, revealing whether that student is fifth, 80th or 280th from the top of his class. For those kids vying for the coveted top 10 rankings, report card day has top scholars dishing, sometimes nastily, about the difference of a hundredth of a point in their grade-point averages.

Brennan agreed, saying top-level students have become viciously competitive and ramping down the stakes might be a good thing, but others argued that scholarships and special programs often require that students in various grade levels reveal class rank. The conversation also opened the door to committee members' dislike of the current GPA and class rank system all around, such as weighted grades for upper-level classes.

The plan to remove class rank went nowhere, but expect the committee to tinker with the system in the coming months.

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THE CLOSED-DOOR session on Monday didn't go well for the school board. Already five members short a full board, three members walked out after discussion among the members broke down. Then questions were raised as to why notes were not taken.

An attorney was consulted on Wednesday about whether the board clerk should take minutes during non-public sessions and whether the minutes should be sealed. But the school board could have saved money on attorney fees by simply referring to the state's Right to Know Law, RSA 91-A:3 III, which is available to all with a quick online search. It says minutes should be taken and made available for inspection unless a two-thirds majority votes to seal the minutes.

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THE U.S. District Court has ruled that a Manchester Public Television Service employee can move forward with her job discrimination lawsuit against the city, but the suit against the school district has been dropped. MPTS employee Kathy Masso sued the city and the school district for failing to consider her for the executive director's job and instead giving it to a man.


Read Beth Hall LaMontange's coverage of Manchester City Hall in the New Hampshire Union Leader. Email her at bhall@unionleader.com.